Hot Brown Turkey Sandwich With Bacon Louisville Restaurants

Often great innovations are born out of boredom. In the 1920's, the Brown Hotel located in Louisville, Kentucky used to cater to over 1,200 guests every night for its dinner and dance parties. The guests, tired of dancing through the night would like to have something at the restaurant to enjoy a good fill.

Sadly they remained frustrated with the staple ham and eggs. That was the time when Chef Fred Schmidt made it a point to create something new more tempting to the taste. He innovated an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon inside and a delicate Mornay sauce. He named the unique creation Hot Brown in the year 1926.

The Hot Brown sandwich became so popular that it went on to become a legend. The Brown Hotel continued to take pride over its award-winning dining, breathtaking turn-of-the-century architecture, and attentive, caring services that came alongside their unique creation, the Hot Brown.

The dish Hot Brown remains a special dish and a favorite of the Louisville population. It is even popular throughout Kentucky. Restaurants in the Louisville area serve the Hot Brown often with titles that says Louisville Hot Brown. Outside Louisville in other parts of Kentucky it is called the Kentucky Hot Brown.

The Hot Browns legendary fame forced it to be watched in an episode of Throwdown! A show hosted by Bobby Flay on the Food Network. Joe and John Castro, the two chefs of the Brown Hotel in Kentucky, competed with Flay in the show for instant cooking of Hot Browns. Obviously Brown Hotel won the challenge and kept high its winning tradition. The show titled Taste of America with Mark DeCarlo and Travel Channel network also featured the sandwich in one of the episodes.

Hot Brown has also appeared in Southern Living Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, NBC's Today Show. Now for the uniqueness of the delicacy, the sandwich is an open-faced combo of turkey and bacon. It is dipped in Mornay sauce and baked till it becomes crisp and the sauce turns brown. Some of the variations include ham with the turkey and pimentos or tomatoes over the sauce. 'Veggie brown' is another variant with avocado or soy burger inside offered by some restaurants to satisfy the vegetarians.

Hot Brown sandwich are made by placing two slices of toasted bread on a metal dish and covering the toast with enough quantity of turkey. Then good amount of sauce is poured over the turkey. Sometimes Parmesan cheese can be sprinkled on it. The dish is then placed in a broiler until the sauce turns brown and bubbly. Final dressings can be done by sprinkling diced pimientos and layering with two pieces of bacon crossed over the top. The legend is now ready to be served. Hot brown